Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 12 July 2022
425. Deputy Joe Flaherty asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if there are any plans to revisit the new ten-year tenancy requirement before a tenancy can apply for the tenant purchase scheme and to reduce the wait time for the many households that felt that they could have been approved in 2022. [37604/22]
View answerThe Tenant Purchase Scheme provides for the purchase by eligible tenants, or joint tenants, of local authority homes available for sale under the scheme. Applicants must meet certain criteria, including minimum reckonable income and minimum time in receipt of social housing supports, to be eligible.
The Government has recently reduced the minimum reckonable income required under the scheme from €15,000 to €12,500. Similarly, the length of time an applicant must be in receipt of social housing supports to qualify under the scheme has also been revised. This has been increased from one to ten years. These changes came into effect on 1 February 2022.
Applications received by local authorities prior to 1 February 2022 should be assessed with reference to the regulations and requirements in place at the time, with applications received after this date assessed in accordance with the new requirements.
